Today\’s quote comes to us from former President, and hopeful first Gentleman, Bill Clinton. This is what he told NBC News about the massive scandal that is brewing over who gave what to the Clinton Foundation, How Bill and Hillary (maybe Chelsea too) have benefitted from it, and what has happened to the money:
“I don\’t think there\’s anything sinister in trying to get wealthy people and countries that are seriously involved in development to spend their money wisely in a way that helps people,. I don\’t think there\’s anything bad about that. I think it\’s good!”
“There\’s been a very deliberate attempt to take the Foundation down. And there is almost no new fact that\’s known now that wasn\’t known when she ran for president the first time.”
“There is no doubt in my mind that we have never done anything knowingly inappropriate in terms of taking money to influence any kind of American government policy. That just hasn\’t happened.”
Bill Clinton is the single greatest politician I have ever seen in my life. But even he cannot get around this scandal. And even his tried and true “there\’s nothing here, they\’re just trying to take us down, the Clintons are victims again” routine isn\’t going to come close to working.
Peter Schweizer\’s book, “Clinton Cash”, is coming out tomorrow. It is already a best seller in advance sales, and it is an excellent bet those sales will grow once it is actually available.
Then there are the 1,100 hundred foreign donors which have not yet been disclosed – information which came from Joshua Green\’s and Richard Rubin\’s article at bloomberg.com.
Then there is the fact that, from Sean Davis\’s March 2 article for thefederalist.com, during the period of 2009 – 2012 (which is when Mr. Clinton tells us almost no new information was uncovered):
…the Clinton Foundation raised over $500 million dollars according to a review of IRS documents by The Federalist (2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008). A measly 15 percent of that, or $75 million, went towards programmatic grants. More than $25 million went to fund travel expenses. Nearly $110 million went toward employee salaries and benefits. And a whopping $290 million during that period – nearly 60 percent of all money raised – was classified merely as “other expenses.” Official IRS forms do not list cigar or dry-cleaning expenses as a specific line item. The Clinton Foundation may well be saving lives, but it seems odd that the costs of so many life-saving activities would be classified by the organization itself as just random, miscellaneous expenses.
Does that look like “no new information” to you?
Want to have a little fun? Next year, when income tax rolls around, deduct 58% of your entire income as “other expenses, the way the Clinton Foundation listed 58% ($290 million out of $500 million) of the monies collected over that four year period. See what those nice folks at the IRS have to say about it.
And this is before we get to the astoundingly elevated speaking fees the Clintons got via the foundation, and for the apparent honors and benefits big donors to the foundation got from the Clintons.
I award Bill Clinton Quote Of The Day honors for trying, against impossible odds, to pretend the Clinton Foundation scandal can be swept under the rug with his usual BS.
It can\’t.
The Clinton Foundation Scandal will – and should – stay with Hillary and Hubby Bubba for the rest of of this campaign, and for the rest of their lives.
